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Tara Maclay
was a witch, a member of the Scooby Gang, and a former lover of Willow Rosenberg. Biography Early life Tara Maclay was born on October 16, 1980,"Help" roughly the same age as the rest of the Scoobies. Both her father and her brother were verbally abusive, and she did not have as much friends she would with the Scooby Gang. At a young age, her father told her she was part demon, as well as all the women of her family, and this aspect would began to manifest in her 20th birthday."Family" This did not stop Tara from becoming increasingly skilled in the magical arts, and she later found out that it was merely a lie designed to keep control over the powerful witches in her family. She lost her mother when she was 17, at which point she went through a brief rebellious period of lying to her father and staying out all night."The Body" She came out as a lesbian before her freshman year in college."Tough Love" College While a member of UC Sunnydale's Wicca group Daughters of Gaea, she met Willow, herself a practicing witch. Since the Wicca group did not consist of real witches, Tara took notice of Willow when she spoke out about actually performing spells. When the demon group of the Gentlemen stole the voices of everyone in Sunnydale to obtain hearts, Tara took it upon herself to meet Willow so that they could try restoring everyone's speech as she had a book of spells about sound and vocalizations. However, when making her way over to Willow's dorm at Stevenson Hall, Tara was chased by the Gentlemen and their footmen. Willow then joined her when she stepped out of her dorm in response to Tara knocking on doors for help. Together, the two witches used their combined forces of telekinesis to carry a vending machine and use it to block a door."Hush" After this, Willow and Tara began regularly seeing each other, meeting up at Tara's dorm room to practice spells together. Through this, Willow got over her grief after her boyfriend Daniel Osbourne had left her. Willow nonetheless kept her meetings with Tara secret as she enjoyed the idea of having something that was hers, to which Tara responded that she was happy to be Willow's. On the other hand, Tara once sabotaged a spell to contact the goddess Thespia used to detect demonic activity, in order to hide her supposed demon heritage."Goodbye Iowa" In many ways, the shy and quiet Tara was reminiscent of the way Willow was in years past. As Willow's romantic relationship with Oz had caused her to begin to bloom, it was through Tara that Willow became a more powerful witch, and through Willow that Tara's confidence grew. Willow and Tara started to grow affectionate to each other, and Willow then felt safe to introduce Tara to her friend Buffy Summers, the Slayer. It was the case however, as Tara discovered, that it was actually Faith Lehane, another Slayer, in Buffy's body. Tara was able to determine this as she sensed Faith's aura. Faith made a comment to Willow which suggested she knew Willow was attracted to Tara. With Faith exposed, Tara and Willow created a Draconian Katra to reverse what Faith had done, putting the real Buffy into her body."Who Are You?" Tara then became acquainted with the rest of Willow's friends including Alexander Harris, Rupert Giles, and Anya Jenkins but her growing feelings for Willow and vice versa remained unnoticed. She began attending meetings with the supernatural fighting group, dubbed "Scooby Gang" and the two became involved on to the point that they planned on getting a pet kitten."New Moon Rising" Everything was going fine until Oz returned, believing he had found a way to stop his werewolf transformations. Tara instantly backed off as Willow and Oz started to renew their relationship, though Willow found it hard as she started to realize that she was quickly falling in love with Tara. This left Willow with the choice between her ex-boyfriend and her new girlfriend. Tara tried to avoid Oz but eventually crossed paths with him on campus where he noticed that she was wearing Willow's clothes, unearthing Willow and Tara's involvement. Because his lycanthropy could only be controlled by his emotions, this upsetting discovery caused Oz to turn right at that moment and attack Tara, though she was then saved by the Initiative who seized Oz without letting her explain that he was actually a person. After Oz was released from the Initiative compound and left Sunnydale, Willow revealed that she wanted to be with who she loved, which was Tara. Willow and Tara then became open girlfriends, and got a pet kitten called Miss Kitty Fantastico. When the first Slayer, Sineya, attacked Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles in their dreams, Tara briefly appeared in Willow's dream, as well as acting as the voice for the first Slayer."Restless" Member of the Scoobies Months later, Tara had become a constant member of the Scooby Gang and Buffy's circle of friends. Her main function was her skills in magic, as she would perform spells alongside Willow, such as revoke invitation rituals for de-inviting vampires like Dracula,"Buffy vs. Dracula" Harmony Kendall, and Spike."Crush" She occasionally looked after Buffy's kid sister Dawn Summers who admired Tara along with Willow, but did not notice their romantic involvement until months later. Tara also moved into Willow's dorm room in college after Buffy left. Furthermore on her twentieth birthday, her father, brother, and cousin Beth came to return her to their home, claiming that like her mother, she would now became a half-demon. Afraid of what her new friends would think, she cast a spell causing them to perceive all demons invisible. Ending badly, she broke the spell after an attack from a group of Lei-Ach demons at the Magic Box shop. Tara's family arrived just after and demanded that she come home. But, by disclosing errors in their logic, and confirming she wasn't actually a demon when Spike hit her, as his chip was triggered, which would only happen with a human, the Scooby Gang managed to convince the family to leave. This gave Tara a new found confidence, as she had stood up to them, and she got to celebrate her birthday with those she truly loved as a result. She celebrated at the Bronze with the gang, and slow danced with Willow while magically levitating. When Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers, died, Tara sympathized with Buffy as she had lost her own mother. Although, she did exclaim that she was "nuts" when hearing from Xander and Anya that she was having sex with Spike (in reality, the robotic duplicate Buffybot that Spike used to substitute his desire for Buffy)."Intervention" Willow and Tara's relationship started to develop problems when they fought about each other's development as witches, Willow acknowledging that Tara had far more experience while Tara noticed Willow's growing power. After the fight, Tara attended a cultural fair alone. She had planned on going to this with Willow, but didn't due to their dispute. Whilst there, she unfortunately encountered the evil hell-goddess Glorificus, who came to her thinking she was the mystical energy known as the Key. Upon learning she was not, Glory threatened to kill a large amount of people at the fair if Tara didn't tell her who the Key was, while crushing her hand. Glory then threatened to remove her sanity by energy absorption, thus Tara would become one of Glory's ever growing number of victims. These were people who became insane because she fed on their mental energies to sustain herself. Tara refused to reveal Dawn was the Key, so Glory sucked her mind out, leaving her in a babbling state. This angered Willow,who then nearly got killed taking on Glory by herself. Tara, unable to look after herself, was left in Willow's care. Even though she could be controlled most of the time, Tara was prone to random violent spasms and required to be tied down during her sleep. She also, as with every other of Glory's "brain sucked" victims, noticed Dawn was the Key. This made her blurt out that fact in front of Glory, who soon was able to take Dawn from Buffy to ready her for the ritual to open the walls between all dimensions. The Scooby Gang used Tara to lead them to the site of Glory's "Big Day", where her insane victims had been drawn to, in order to build Glory a tower. Glory instantly noticed Tara just before Willow was able to transfer some of Tara's brain energy back into Tara, which restored her sanity, as well as weakening Glory enough to be eventually defeated."The Gift" Leaving Willow The following year, Tara and Willow became surrogate parent figures to Dawn Summers after Buffy' death, living in the Summer's house and sharing Joyce's room."After Life" Willow and Tara considered simply taking Dawn and moving out of Sunnydale to start their own family together.Anywhere but Here When Willow revealed that she planned to resurrect Buffy, Tara was at first hesitant, as it was breaking the laws of nature, though eventually she went through with it. Tara was supportive and understanding of Willow's efforts to deal with the pressure of and struggle with her leadership over the Scooby Gang, reminding her that their bedroom was "the room where she don't have to be brave." Tara became more confident with great magical skills and knowledge. Despite Tara's trust in Willow, their relationship began to decay as Tara complained about Willow's overuse of magic, having a fight at the Bronze when Willow suggested using inter-dimensional magic simply to find Dawn in a crowd of people. Willow, hoping to repair things, used Lethe's Bramble to make Tara forget the incident."All the Way" Tara eventually found out what Willow did"Once More, with Feeling" and was so appalled she compared it to how Glory sucked her brain. Willow desperately promised to take a week off magic so Tara won't end things; however, she secretly attempted to make Tara forget again which went horribly wrong as it caused the whole gang to briefly lose their memories. After that, Tara broke up with Willow and left the Summer's house. This motivated Willow to cut down on her magic use."Wrecked" Tara still though remained loyal to Dawn and was also the first person to learn of Buffy's affair with Spike. Rather than judging her, Tara helped her to understand that she was still human even though Spike could harm her without triggering the chip, becoming a close confidant and supportive friend for Buffy."Dead Things" When Halfrek, a vengeance demon, used Dawn to make the gang along with several attendees at Buffy's birthday be mystical trapped in the Summer's house, Anya pressured Willow to use magic to set them free who didn't want to on account of her desire to stay away from magic. Tara stood up to her, which was the first in several steps where they reunited in their relationships, taking slow steps such as attending Anya and Xander's wedding together as bridesmaids"Hell's Bells" and reminiscing about times when they were separated. Though Willow was unsure about approaching a serious relationship too quickly, Tara went out and nervously asked at the end of her speech "Can you just be kissing me now?", before the two witches made love."Entropy" Death and legacy Tara was killed on May 7, 2002, by a stray bullet to the heart shot by Warren Mears intended for Buffy. In that moment, her blood splattered on Willow's top. Tara's last words were "Your shirt?", before she collapsed to the floor, dead."Seeing Red" This consumed Willow with grief and rage. She immediately called upon Osiris to bring Tara back to life. However, he refused because her death was at the hands of a non-magical human, thus barring demonic or supernatural intervention or concern. Willow then set out to murder the Trio, a group of troublesome nerds led by Warren. She managed to attack Warren before aiming at his previous teammates Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson."Villains" The Scooby Gang tried to protect them,"Two to Go" while Giles, having heard of Tara's death from a coven in Devon, tried to contain Willow with the powers given to him by the coven. He was unsuccessful and Willow drained him of the power which propelled her into a destructive and nihilistic rampage that attempted to destroy the world. Ultimately, Xander was able to persuade Willow to not destroy the earth, and Willow was sent to England with Giles to learn how to control her powers more efficiently. Additionally, the trauma of Tara's death and Willow's subsequent rampage finally forced Buffy, who had developed several self-destructive habits and severe depression after her resurrection, to finally snap out of it and realize that life was worth living at the same time."Grave" Willow was offered to have Tara be her guide on her journey towards improving her understanding of her powers. However, Willow surmised this would either be robbing Tara of her afterlife or an illusion, and instead chose Aluwyn.Willow: Goddesses and Monsters Willow eventually explained to Kennedy, her girlfriend at the time, that she was keeping Kennedy and herself away from Buffy because she felt guilty for her decision to resurrect Buffy; returning to the life of increased danger associated with slaying which ultimately cost Tara her life, rather than taking the opportunity of Buffy's death to be with Tara in a safer environment, and she did not want to repeat this mistake with Kennedy. In a dream, Buffy was marrying skinless Warren and Tara was by her side saying "I still blame you for my death." A drowsy Buffy concluded: "Everybody die always"."Always Darkest" When she realized Xander owned a gun, Buffy stated: "I don't like them. They keep killing my friends.", in reference to Tara's death."Twilight, Part One" After the creation of the new Seed of Wonder, Andrew returned to the ruins of Sunnydale, hoping to use the new rules of magic to his advantage to resurrect Tara and a copy of Jonathan to atone for his past sins; however, his efforts attracted the Soul Glutton. After the creature was dealt with, Buffy and Willow convinced Andrew not to go through with it.Return to Sunnydale, Part Two When cornered by the Scoobies, D'Hoffryn tried to bargain for his life by offering to grant them each one wish; in Willow's case, he offered to bring Tara back for her. The Scoobies ultimately refused, knowing there would always be a catch.Own It, Part Five Personality and traits At the time Tara first met Willow, she was quiet and shy, rarely speaking up, and stuttering when she did speak. She also wore baggy, ill-fitting clothing that hid her body. After her father's lies were exposed and her place within the Scooby Gang was established, Tara became more comfortable with her friends, and started to voice her opinion more often. In fact, her comment that April practically had "machine molded plastic stamped on her ass" amazed Buffy and Giles,"I Was Made to Love You" and she teased Willow that making up after a fight was "the best part". When she became more comfortable with speaking out, she also started to wear more well-fitting clothes that displayed confidence. Even before Tara developed confidence, one of her most prominent traits was her determination to put her friends and loved ones before herself. This was best illustrated through her decision when Oz returned to Willow's life: despite the fact that she had strong feelings for Willow, and their romance was blooming nicely, Tara was still willing to end it so that Willow could return to her ex-boyfriend, choosing to be happy with Willow's choice no matter what it turned out to be. Besides this, to protect Dawn's identity as the Key, she endured Glory shattering her hand and brain-sucking her. Another one of Tara's most significant traits was her prudence and wisdom regarding witchcraft. Despite her being a powerful witch who, after severing ties with her abusive family, learned to thoroughly embrace her Wiccan identity, Tara believed that magic should only be used when it was absolutely necessary, and not for selfish purposes. For instance, though she truly sympathized with Dawn over Joyce's death, she was firm in her refusal in teaching Dawn resurrection spells, as she felt that even witches had to honor the most fundamental laws of nature; as tragic as it was, Joyce's death was still a natural one, not one caused by magical or mystical circumstances."Forever" She was also concerned over how increasingly powerful a witch Willow was becoming, to the extent where it led to a bad quarrel between them. Presumably, part of this was her instinctively foreseeing that Willow's dramatic increase in magical powers would lead her down a dark path, and therefore she was anxious to nip it in the bub. In time, especially after Buffy's resurrection, Tara established herself as having truly outgrown her family's negative influences, and matured into a strong, independent, and realistic woman who firmly stood by her morals. An example of this would be her management of her and Willow's relationship: though she truly loved Willow, Tara still made the heartbreaking decision to break up with her, for she realized that Willow's addiction to magic was out of control, making their relationship become abusive and unhealthy. This instance of assertiveness is a definite testament as to how much she had grown emotionally: refusing to let love blind herself to the reality that Willow's problems could not be rectified as long as they were together, and acknowledging the necessity of their separation for her own self-protection. Despite this, they never stopped loving each other dearly, which led to their subsequent meetings after the breakup being awkward and uncomfortable for them both. Tara also continued to maintain a good friendship with the other Scoobies: she attended Buffy's birthday party, was a bridesmaid in Xander's and Anya's (cancelled) wedding, and took Dawn out for milkshakes."Smashed" Another instance of strength was when she defended Willow against the peer pressure put on her to use magic, and actually stood her ground against Anya herself, which was something that the Tara of old was highly unlikely to have done. Tara's most commendable and endearing traits were, undoubtedly, her compassion, her understanding, and her capacity for forgiveness when it was truly deserved. For instance, when Joyce died, Tara was the one who offered Buffy the only helpful guidance, having experienced the exact same grief when she lost her own mother. In fact, she became a surrogate mother of sorts to the Scoobies, caring for Dawn when Buffy was busy with slaying or too emotionally cut off. Besides this, when she learned that Buffy was sleeping with Spike, she did not judge Buffy in the least, and only offered acceptance, love, and her promise of absolute secrecy. Ultimately, when Tara realized how Willow had truly changed for the better, and how much she herself missed and wanted Willow, she reconciled with her, demonstrating her exceptional capacity of forgiving an offender who was truly remorseful and had dedicated sincere efforts into making amends. Powers and abilities Tara was a powerful but extremely prudent witch who performed a wide range of spells to help the Scoobies in their fight against evil. Despite having the lowest kill count of all the Scoobies (only one demon, Razor), she was always an useful assist for research, planning, and combat. Tara was shown to be capable of telekinesis, which allowed her to move objects using only the power of her mind. When she was in physical contact with Willow, her telekinesis would be enhanced beyond its usual strength - in fact, it was the very first magical feat that they accomplished together. Hence, whenever there was a need to move an object without touching it, and said object was beyond the telekinetic capacity of one witch, Tara and Willow would always pool their powers by concentrating on moving the same object. Their combined telekinesis was also strong enough to levitate objects (a flower) and even themselves (during Tara's birthday celebration, they levitated themselves some feet above the ground to dance in the air). Tara also displayed the rare and unusual power of reading auras, which enabled her to instinctively sense individuals for who and what they truly were, when something was wrong with someone, and even detect the use of mental powers. For instance, during the Sunnydale Wicca group gathering, Tara sensed that Willow was the only other member who, besides herself, possessed true passion for and genuine skills in witchcraft. Another example was the instance where Buffy had her body switched with Faith. Last but not least, Tara had a good knowledge of Latin, and was even well-versed in several rites and rituals that some other witches or watchers were not familiar with, such as the Taglarin mythic rites. She grew up riding horses, and rarely used the Internet because the preponderance of bad spelling depressed her. Though Tara had neither Willow's astoundingly prodigious talent in witchcraft, nor Amy Madison's ruthless vindictive desire for power, she was still a distinguished Wiccan in her own right due to her extraordinary moral compass and her self-discipline where magic was concerned. In fact, Tara was always notably careful and conscientious when it came to usage of magical powers, being ever mindful of the possible consequences that could be incurred if she used her magic for selfish or trivial purposes. The only instance where she threw this caution away was when she cast a spell to conceal her supposed demonic heritage, for - at that point in time - she was ignorant that it had been a lie designed to keep control over her, and her fear of being rejected by her lover and her friends should they find out was truly great. Apart from this one instance, Tara's prudence and sense of caution ensured that, unlike Willow and Amy, she had never been led down the negative corrupting side of magic. Last but not least, she must also be credited for being majorly, if not solely, responsible for how Willow blossomed into an all-powerful witch. Notable spells and incidents Tara was the only one to notice that Faith's spirit was trapped in Buffy's body and was central in sending Willow to the "nether-world" in order to discover how they could reverse the soul-switching. Tara cast a defensive spell which fended off a demon by conjuring a magical "fog of protection"."Superstar" Tara aided Giles and Willow in an attempt to reach and reason with the residual spiritual manifestations of numerous abused children who were plaguing a fraternity house."Where the Wild Things Are" Tara cast a spell to stop the Scooby Gang from being able to see demons so she could hide her supposed demon side. This also put the Scoobies in grave danger when Glory sent a horde of Lei-Ach demons after Buffy, but Tara reversed it in time. Tara used effective combat spells and was the only one that saw Buffy for what she was after she returned from the dead. For example, Tara cast a spell creating an "energy ball" that struck a demon biker attempting to kidnap Anya, thus freeing her friend."Bargaining, Part One" Tara magically conjured a jet of flame in an attempt to intimidate the bikers' leader and she also conjured a light to help guide Willow and Xander who were lost in the forest."Bargaining, Part Two" She cast a spell to free the trapped party goers in Buffy's house, but the spell instead freed a demon from a sword."Older and Far Away" Tara cast a spell that untied Willow and Dawn and she also magically sent a heavy shelf flying towards a demon to save her friends."Normal Again" Tara made her first and only demon kill when she axed a demon in the back, as he tried to strangle Willow. Relationships Romantic *'Willow Rosenberg' – While in a Wicca group full of wannabes, Tara had quickly noticed that Willow stood out and was the only one with true witch powers. After escaping successfully from the Gentlemen, Tara praised Willow and commented on how she could feel her power as a witch. Willow denied this, but was very flattered by the compliment. The two witches soon became friends. It was around this time that Willow was led into depression after Oz left her, and Tara's entrance into her life, coupled with their shared interest in magic, filled the void Oz left. Starting off as a apparent friendship, it soon became clear that it had strong romantic undertones. Willow had purposely resisted Tara not meeting her other friends, admitting to her that she still wanted to keep something that was "hers"; Tara replied that she was "hers". Faith was the first to identify their romantic relationship in an extremely blunt and rude manner, thoroughly alienating Tara. When Willow's ex-boyfriend Oz returned and her feelings for him resurfaced, Tara was hurt and slightly distanced herself from Willow. However, Tara was very understanding and selfless, admitting that she wanted Willow happy, whoever she chose. While Tara was under the impression that Willow still loved Oz more, she was proved wrong when she admitted she loved Tara and the two entered an official relationship. Tara eventually expressed to Willow how she felt like somewhat of an outsider from the Scooby Gang, given their extremely tight bond with each other that was hard to fit in to, causing her to be able to relate to Dawn's own feelings of alienation. Willow was discouraged and protested against this, affectionately telling her that she was one of them now."Real Me" Given her strained relationship with her family, Tara kept her past hidden from Willow, feeling it would only drive her away. After her family was stopped from taking her home and she was finally fully accepted in the Scooby Gang, Tara would say to Willow that she always made her feel special. The two shared a loving dance on her birthday, levitating off the ground through their magical connection. When Willow broke down over Joyce's death and criticized her style of clothing, Tara immediately comforted her and they shared a kiss. It was Tara that nurtured the growth of confidence in Willow and vice versa. Tara allowed Willow to become a better witch, yet also acknowledging when she went over the line, worried for her safety. Eventually, she began to show a partly hidden fear of Willow's extreme power and reliance on magic, worrying that one day she would abuse her abilities for wrong purposes. Willow reacted with hurt, but Tara insisted she did trust her, she was just worried. She also admitted a fear of Willow leaving her for a man and that their relationship had been an "experimental" phase. After the argument, the two ran off on their own only for Tara to be brain-sucked by Glory. Willow was distraught and took it upon herself to take care of Tara, calling her her "everything". They were each other's "true love". Even when the Scooby Gang fell victim to an amnesia spell, there was still a heavy attraction between Willow and Tara, reinforcing the message of their true love."Tabula Rasa" Eventually, Willow was shocked to learn that Tara found her power frightening and worried on some level that she would use that magic for the wrong purposes. She was especially hurt when she realized Tara worried that Willow would leave her for a man. Feeling like Tara did not brain-sucked by Glory, however, Willow was devastated and felt like it was her fault. Enraged beyond reason, Willow delved into dark magics and recklessly attacked Glory even though Buffy told her not to. She managed to land a blow on her, but was in the end beaten. Afterwards, she took care of her during he insanity and simply said she was everything to her. Willow managed to restore Tara's sanity by transferring it to Glory, briefly disorienting the goddess. She was immensely happy of this and hugged her, telling Tara she would always find her. After Buffy's death, both her and Tara served as surrogate parents to Dawn and even moved in her house. They were portrayed as each other's soul mates. Tara briefly left Willow because of her inappropriate use of magic to erase part of Tara's memory, but they soon got back together just in time for Tara's shocking death. Tara's death hit Willow so bad that she lost all sense of morality and vengefully gave into dark magic and skinned Tara's murderer, Warren Mears, alive. However, Willow later admitted that after, Buffy died and she resurrected her, she felt that she chose Buffy over Tara, which caused her death. Friendships *'Buffy Summers' – Buffy initially held no attachment to Tara and was only connected to her through Willow. Upon Tara's birthday, she was distant from Tara and did not know what to get her since she didn't really understand her. However, this began to change when Tara's parents tried to force her to go home, thinking her witch side meant she was a demon. Buffy and the rest of the group stood up for Tara and refused to allow her family to take her against her will. After this event, Tara realized the Scooby Gang was her friends and felt more accepted. Buffy and Tara became more comfortable with each other and they began hanging out in college on some occasions without the company of others. Tara expressed sympathy over her break-up with Riley, explaining that things happened for a reason. Buffy had lost control of her emotions when Tara had mentioned Anya and Xander had a fight, causing her to sob uncontrollably into her shoulder, projecting it to how she had ignored the signs of her own gradual failing relationship with Riley. Tara was confused and uncomfortable at the overreaction, but nonetheless awkwardly comforted her."Triangle" When Buffy's mother had passed on from an unexpected aneurysm, Tara related to her situation and confessed her mother had died too when she was seventeen. Buffy was nonetheless grateful and questioned how she had felt when it happened. After Tara was brain-sucked into insanity, Buffy's guilt and stress built. She listed it as after Joyce's passing and her impossible fight against Glory, it was becoming too much for her. Tara, like the rest of them, grieved when Buffy passed on but worried about reviving her. After Tara had broken up with Willow, Buffy had told her about Spike's chip not reacting when he had hit her and asked Tara to check if she came back wrong. Tara had told her she didn't but she was different a little after being revived as her soul was channeled back in her body. Buffy told her that she had been having sex with Spike, and Tara placated her by saying it was okay if she did or didn't love him. Buffy, while in tears, confessed to her that she had been using Spike for sex and for her to not "forgive her". Tara had comforted a distraught Buffy and promised she wouldn't tell anyone what she told her, a promise she kept until everyone else had figured it out themselves. Following Buffy's request, Tara became protective of her towards Spike, and often tried to stop Spike's sexual advances on her, the two becoming increasingly close afterwards. Buffy was noticeably sad upon hearing about Tara's death. Much later, she had a nightmare of Tara telling her that "I still blame you for my death", but it was merely a dream. After Tara's death, Buffy developed a strong dislike of guns; when Xander told her about owning a gun, Buffy said, "I don't like them. They keep killing my friends", a reference to Tara's death. *'Dawn Summers' – Dawn befriended Tara when the other Scoobies didn't know her too well. They bonded over their shared feeling of being an outsider from the Scoobies, causing both to feel great sympathy for each other. Dawn was quick to defend Tara from Mr. Maclay when he threated to take her away. After her mother's death, she asked if Tara could help her resurrect her along with Willow, but she refused. Dawn was devastated when she was "brain-sucked" by Glory. While Buffy had been dead, Willow and Tara considered simply taking Dawn and moving out of Sunnydale to start their own family together. Even after Willow and Tara broke up, Dawn and Tara continued to meet up for the occasional milkshake. Dawn appeared to consider Tara as a surrogate mother until her death. Dawn was deeply affected by Tara's death, staying with her corpse so she wouldn't be alone and voicing her opinion of what her killer, Warren, deserved. *'Alexander Harris' — Xander and Tara were good friends; Xander described Tara as one of his three favorite girls. *'Rupert Giles' — Giles acted as a father figure for Tara as he did for most of the Scoobies. *'Anya Jenkins' – Anya had a friendly relationship with Tara as they were both the relative newcomers in the Scooby Gang. They often spent time together apart from the original four Scooby Gang members."The Yoko Factor" Anya had Tara invited to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. *'Spike' – Much like he did for Willow, Spike had great affection and respect for Tara. When Tara's family attempted to take her home with them, Spike, realizing that their tale about Tara's demonic heritage was a lie, proved it by punching Tara in the nose, which caused his chip to go off. When his feelings for Buffy became known, Tara was the only one of the Scoobies to speak in a civilized matter to him in a subsequent encounter at the Magic Box, calmly telling him to leave as opposed to the others, who openly criticized and insulted him. When Tara was brain-sucked by Glory, Spike defended Willow's decision to attack Glory. Later, he attempted to comfort an insane Tara after she accidentally exposed him to sunlight."Spiral" After Buffy's death, Spike helped Willow and Tara raise Dawn, and this, along with his remaining loyal to the Scoobies in the months before Buffy's resurrection, caused Tara to respect him. Tara was one of the few members of the Scooby Gang who was genuinely friendly towards Spike, to the extent that she was the only Scooby who believed that his feelings for Buffy were genuine. When Buffy confided to Tara about her and Spike's sexual relationship, Tara followed her request on interrupting his multiple attempts in flirting with Buffy. Gallery Behind the scenes *She was portrayed by Amber Benson. *Tara was a recurring character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer seasons four, five, and six. Amber Benson was counted as one of the regular cast for a single episode in season six ("Seeing Red"), in which her character died. She appeared in 47 episodes altogether; 12 in season four, 18 in season five, and 17 in season six. *Joss Whedon originally wanted an actress with a smaller, less voluptuous frame, but Marti Noxon saw the vulnerability in Amber Benson's portrayal of Tara and called her back after her audition.http://www.pukkie.org/video/castingt.wmv *Hannigan was asked how Whedon planned the Willow-Tara relationship, "I don't know if he had any idea that was going to develop... the relationship the way he did. He was very hands-on in the Willow and Tara scenes.. he only does that when he really cares. But then we started reading the stuff and it's like 'OK, this is clearly going beyond the subtext here.' And he tried to stick to the 'No, no, it's just subtext' defense. Finally it was like 'Oh come on, hit-yourself-over-the-head-with-the-it' text."Eden, Martin, "Alyson Wonderland", from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Magazine #15 (UK, December 2000), page 8-14. *Benson was normally credited as a guest on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, despite appearing in more episodes than other regulars like Oz and Riley. This is typical of how contracts are written for the actors - Seth Green and Marc Blucas's contracts specified that, as regular characters, they had to be available whenever they were needed for an episode. In contrast, Amber Benson's contract was on a per-episode basis, like Kristine Sutherland and Eliza Dushku, hence they were not in the main credits. *The only time Amber Benson was credited as a cast member in the opening credits was for the episode "Seeing Red", the episode in which Tara was killed, the shortest tenure as a main character of any character from either Buffy or Angel. As Joss Whedon said in his DVD commentary for "Welcome to the Hellmouth", this was something he had wanted to do from the start: kill a character listed as a regular in one of their first appearances as such. Whedon had considered listing Eric Balfour (who played Jesse McNally) in the two-part pilot as a regular, only to surprise the audience by killing him off, but financial restrictions didn't allow for this at the time. *Tara was originally set to return to the show in the season seven episode "Conversations with Dead People", in which she would appear as one of the many forms assumed by the First Evil, and attempt to coerce Willow into committing suicide.Conversations with dead people: Alternative dialogue between Willow and Tara However, Benson was not available and the episode was already on a really tight schedule.Ten Minutes with Amber Benson by von Metzke, Ross, Lesbianation, March 30, 2007. http://www.lesbianation.com/article.cfm?section=2&id=13596 Instead, the First appeared to Willow as Cassie Newton, claiming to speak for Tara and that Willow couldn't see Tara (unless she killed herself) as a consequence of her actions as Dark Willow. *While speaking at the Wizard World Chicago Convention in August 2004, Joss Whedon claimed that he had planned to bring Tara back from the dead at the end of season seven. According to Whedon, the episode would have centered around Buffy being granted one "life-altering" wish. Buffy would have spent the whole episode trying to decide what she wanted to do with the wish (including, possibly, restoring Angel's humanity). The episode would have ended with Buffy telling Willow that she'd just gotten a great new pair of shoes, and when Willow asked her if she used up her wish on new shoes, Buffy would have said, "No, silly!" and stepped aside to reveal Tara. It was intended to be set exactly a year after her death. However, this plan was abandoned when Amber Benson was unavailable for filming. At the 2007 Comic-Con, he referred to this idea as well.http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11422 *Tara has a total of four ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' action figures: "New Moon Rising Tara", "Hush Tara", "Triangle Tara", and "Together Forever Willow & Tara". She has as well one bust and one ornament. Appearances Canonical Other *''Monster Island'' *''Chaos Bleeds'' *''Queen of the Slayers'' *''Dark Congress'' ;Games *''Chaos Bleeds'' }} References de:Tara Maclay fr:Tara Maclay pt:Tara Maclay es:Tara Maclay pt-br:Tara Maclay Category:Humans Category:Females Category:Witches Category:Scooby Gang Category:UC Sunnydale students Category:Magic practitioners Category:LGBT individuals Category:Daughters of Gaea Category:Sunnydale residents Category:The Bronze patrons Category:The Magic Box patrons Category:Mentally-ill individuals Category:Deceased individuals Category:Maclay family